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Electric Bike Reviews

BULLS Grinder EVO Lite Review 2022

Bulls Grinder Evo Lite Electric Gravel Bike Review

BULLS Grinder Evo Lite Review: Overview

I love electric bikes that make me forget they’re electric bikes.

It’s not that I’m one of those cyclists who dislikes e-bikes or even remotely thinks they are cheating, but I am a person that identifies as a “cyclist.” I’m a bona fide, lycra-wearing endorphin addict who not just appreciates, but craves the feeling of physically taxing myself on a bike.

I’m also the type who’s grown to appreciate the help of an e-bike, especially the stealthy superlight variations that’ve grown more popular over the last few years.

That’s why I loved reviewing the BULLS Grinder EVO Lite, a hybrid road and gravel electric bike designed to be an affordable do-it-all e-bike with a motor that compliments your pedaling, but doesn’t overpower it.

It’s got fatter, knobbier tires and disc brakes, but it’s not designed to be a thoroughbred gravel bike. The Grinder is designed for the gravel curious, who maybe want to dabble on gravel roads but also want an e-bike that’ll be equally at home on pavement.

In some circles — probably the same people who thought up the *great* idea of calling non-motorized bicycles “acoustic” bikes — this sort of bike is called an “allroad” bike. This hybrid road/gravel ethos is further evident in the bike’s geometry, which more closely matches that of a comfort road bike than a longer-wheelbase gravel bike.

It’s also designed to be affordable. The Shimano 105 groupset is solid and reliable, but not over the top, and the frame is made of aluminum, helping to keep the cost below the $4,500 mark — pretty cheap for a performance e-bike.

But the Grider does not ride cheap. The component package is utilitarian but solid, even featuring such luxurious technology as hydraulic disc brakes and great tires from Schwalbe.

The cherry on top of this bike, however, is undeniably the Fazua Momentum drive system. This is the second BULLS I’ve reviewed with this lightweight and lightly-powered motor — the BULLS Alpine Hawk EVO was the other — and I’m a very big fan.

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Tern Vektron S10 Review 2022

Tern Vektron S10 Electric Bike Review

It’s not super often that I ride a folding bike and am able to forget it’s a folding bike.

Usually there’s something — a creak, a little wobble in the handlepost or maybe even some flex in the jointed frame — that serves as a constant reminder that the bike I’m riding is technically cut in half.

The Tern Vektron S10 is a rare exception to this rule.

Electric Bike Report got a chance to do a mini review of the Tern Vektron S10 during the Big Gear Show in Park City, Utah this August and, while I had limited time on the Vektron, I was thoroughly impressed by this little bike’s balanced handling, ultra-responsive Bosch drive system and thoughtful features. Despite its small stature, it’s a bonafide form of alternative transportation ready for commutes, grocery runs and can even ferry a small human on the rear rack. It’s a sensible bike for people low on space but unwilling to sacrifice performance for convenience.

Oh, it also folds down easily and stows propped up on its rear end.

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Magnum Nomad Review 2022

Magnum Nomad Review

An electric fat bike built with accessibility and adjustability in mind, the Magnum Nomad is a mid-step e-bike designed to adapt to riders of all shapes, sizes and ability levels.

The Nomad is built around a 750W Bafang rear hub motor that gives the bike ample power to flatten hills and easily cruise near its maximum pedal assisted speed of 28 mph. But the Nomad isn’t just a quick bike, it’s also built with utility and ease of use in mind. Magnum built in a number of smart features — including an adjustable stem and a frame that’s easier to mount — that makes this relatively heavyweight e-bike easy to use.

The Nomad, but closer.

Magnum is a Utah-based e-bike company that backs up its products with an international network of brick-and-mortar dealers more than 200 strong. Electric Bike Report got to catch up with Magnum during the Big Gear Show in Park City, Utah this August and we to spend some time doing a micro review of the Nomad (and it’s sibling bike, the Scout). This is a slightly shorter review than we typically do at EBR, but we hope to get the Nomad in soon for more in-depth testing, so stay tuned.

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Gocycle G4 Review 2022

Gocycle G4 Electric Bike Review

At a surfaces glance, the newest iteration of the Gocycle electric folding bike — the Gocycle G4 — looks very similar to the previous version of the bike, the Gocycle GX.

But looks can be deceiving.

Though the new model shares the same classic Gocycle styling and still folds up the same way, the new G4 (which stands for generation four) sports a redesigned motor, electronic shifting, a carbon fiber midframe and a number of other notable new bits that make the new bike remarkably lighter and more powerful.

Electric Bike Report caught up with Gocycle during the Big Gear Show in Park City, Utah this past August and got to spend some time on the mid-range Gocycle G4i and the ultra-lux Gocycle G4i+, two of the three models released in the new Gocycle G4 lineup. Though the big mountain passes of Park City probably aren’t the G4’s typical natural habitat — light folding bikes are more typically found in urban commuting environments — the little bikes performed incredibly well on long climbs and during tight, switchback-y descents.

Gocycle G4 Electric Bike Review folded

The Gocycle is one of the lightest fast-folding electric bikes we’ve tested.

Gocycle released the new G4 lineup this past March with a promise that the new bike represented “a new standard for performance” in the portable electric bike category. We’ve reviewed the previous version of the Gocycle, the GX, and can attest that they’ve raised the bar for what you can expect from a compact electric folding bike.

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Diamondback Response Review 2022

Diamondback Response Review

Hipsters and young folk in bike-saturated cities know and love a flavor of commuter bike dubbed the “urban assault bike,” or, to the unindoctrinated, a mountain bike that’s been repurposed as a go-anywhere do-anything asphalt commuter.

It would appear that there’s some hipsters and young folk on the Diamondback product development team.

The Diamondback Response electric bike is, for all intents and purposes, an urban assault bike. At its core, the Response is a Bosch-powered hardtail mountain bike with a few tweaks — like Schwalbe Super Moto semi-slick tires and Class 3 capabilities — that make it uniquely capable in paved environments. It’s a bike equally at home ferrying you to the office or sending stair sets.

Diamondback Response Review - Bosch Performance Motor

The Response’s Bosch Performance Speed mid-drive motor

Electric Bike Report got the chance to do a quick-hit review of the Diamondback Response at the Big Gear Show in Park City this August. It’s a shorter review than we typically do — it’s tough to squeeze in-depth testing into the schedule of a trade show — but we got to spend enough time with the bike to get a good feel for it.

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Tower Beach Babe Review 2022

Tower Beach Babe Electric Bike Review

Tower Beach Babe Review: Overview

The Tower Beach Babe is a Class 2 electric beach cruiser that combines comfort and leisure-based cruising with a powerful 500W motor and 48V, 14Ah battery. Between the comfortable riding geometry and capabilities of the motor and battery, it’s hard to ignore the fun factor this bike provides.

When we did the Tower Beach Babe review it was interesting to see how it compared to the Beach Bum 2, which we reviewed earlier this month. Both bikes have some consistency between them, the main being the very comfortable and smooth riding experience.

The Beach Babe has a low-step frame that makes it easier to get on and off of the bike. Shorter riders and those who don’t want to swing their leg over the top tube will likely find this low-step frame design to be very beneficial to the overall experience the Beach Babe provides.

By the end of this e-bike review, you should have a good idea how the Beach Babe climbs hills, how long its battery lasts and what our overall impressions were of Towers’ low step electric beach cruiser.

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Tern GSD S00 LX Review 2022

Tern calls its GSD electric cargo bike a “mid-tail” cargo bike, meaning it’s neither the biggest nor the smallest e-cargo bike on the market — it’s somewhere in between.

After spending some time riding the Tern GSD S00 LX — one of four GSD models — during the Big Gear Show in Park City, Utah in early August, that mid-tail designation feels about right. The bike is remarkably compact and easy to handle, even with quite a bit of load added to the rear rack. It’s also definitely not small — Tern loaned Electric Bike Report a GSD S00 LX for a morning and I was able to tote myself, my videographer and all our gear up hills and through tighter residential areas without so much as a blink.

GSD is an acronym for “Get Stuff Done,” a phrase discreetly painted on the downtube of the bike we tested. It’s a very fitting name for this bike that additionally captures Tern’s belief that bikes are tools, not toys. The GSD is a bike designed for jobs; whether that job is carrying your kids to preschool or hauling deliveries to their destinations, there’s likely a configuration of the GSD that’ll meet your needs.

Tern GSD S00 LX Electric Bike Review seat

Want to take a friend? The GSD can do that.

Like all of Tern’s e-bikes, The GSD was designed to be a modular e-bike customizable for your needs. The GSD we rode was configured as a people carrier with an adult-sized captain’s chair mounted on the back. So we ditched the second e-bike our videographer, Bryce, had been using to film these mini reviews and we set out together on the GSD to see how the mid-sized cargo bike handled under load.

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Diamondback Union 2 Review 2022

Diamondback Union 2 Review

There’s few things better than an electric bike that feels exactly as fast as it is.

I like racy bikes — ones that don’t just roll fast, but look fast — and for me, Diamondback’s Union 2 electric commuter bike hits in exactly the right way. It’s sleek, has sporty geometry, no suspension (don’t @ me rigid bike haters) and is powered by the ultra-lux Bosch Performance Speed power plant.

To put it short, this bike is exactly as quick as it looks. It’s a thrill to ride and is a surprisingly affordable option in the growing lineup of Bosch-powered Class 3 commuter bikes.

Diamondback Union 2 Review - Branding

Sleek and stealthy


We got the chance to do a brief review of the Diamondback Union 2 during the Big Gear Show in Park City, Utah this August and were impressed by the bike’s considerable power, stable handling and solid spec level. It’s a lot of bang for your buck.

This is a shorter review than we typically do at Electric Bike Report (our normal in-depth reviews typically take several weeks, which isn’t particularly feasible during a morning at a crowded trade show) though we hope to land a bike for a long term-review of the Union 2 soon, so stay tuned.

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BULLS Alpine Hawk EVO Review 2022

BULLS Alpine Hawk EVO Electric Bike Review 2022

Summary Review: BULLS Alpine Hawk EVO E-Bike

If there’s one thing I’d like you to keep in mind while reading through this review of BULLS Bikes’ Alpine Hawk EVO electric road bike, it’s that subtleness is the name of its game.

Part of the emerging category of super light electric bikes, the BULLS Alpine Hawk EVO blends the pedaling performance of a traditional road bike with a small and lightweight motor and battery, packing just enough punch to take the edge off the more difficult parts of road cycling. Think steep hills and hard, low speed accelerations. With a slim 250W Fazua power plant tucked inside the frame and few obvious buttons or LED lights, it plays coy that it’s an e-bike. Even in the highest pedal assistance setting, I never felt like my legs were being overpowered by the motor and it was easy to forget I had some extra wattage backing up my pedaling.

That’s not to say this is an underpowered e-bike, because it absolutely is not. But bear in mind this is an e-bike for people who still want their legs, lungs and heart to produce the lion’s share of the force that drives them forward. The motor’s power delivery is subtle; it’s just there to take the edge off.

There’s been lots of debate on where these lightweight and lightly-powered e-bikes fit into the larger e-bike ecosystem. From the perspective of a human-power traditionalist, the Alpine Hawk’s 33.5 lb weight is high for a performance road bike; and from the e-bike perspective, it’s modest motor and battery combination can be construed as underwhelming. It seems to have one foot in the traditional bicycle world and the other in the e-bike world.

So, with one foot in two worlds, the Alpine Hawk begs the question: Is it a good choice for the e-bike enthusiast or is it best suited for the serious road cyclist?

I spent the month of May pedaling the Alpine Hawk EVO on Electric Bike Report’s home roads in southern Utah to find out.

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Magnum Scout Review 2022

Magnum Scout Review

Built around a 750W Bafang rear hub motor, the Scout electric fat bike is Magnum’s entry into the ultra-competitive high-powered electric fat bike category.

The Scout, one of Magnum’s most in demand e-bikes, is designed as a do-anything go-anywhere fat bike that’s friendly to all sorts of riders. It sports Shimano components, hydraulic disk brakes and two battery options that are both larger than average for this category of e-bike.

The Utah-based company boasts an international distribution network with more than 200 brick-and-mortar retailers that can help with service, troubleshooting or buying your bike if you prefer to do so in person.

Magnum Scout Review - Handlebars

The Scout, but closer.

This review is one of several micro reviews Electric Bike Report did during the Big Gear Show in Park City, Utah this August, so it’s a little less in-depth than our typical review process. But keep an eye on this space, we hope to get several of Magnum’s bikes (including the Scout) in the near future for a full length review.

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